Rayford P. Kytle, Jr. Papers
Collection
Identifier: MS398
This collection is largely made up of materials from Kytle's time at Georgia Tech, 1932 through 1936. Included are an address book, three issues of the T Book, a pair of tickets to President Roosevelt's speech on campus, three issues of the Technique, commencement and baccalaureate programs from June 1936, and a 1936 tuition receipt, as well as a program from the YMCA State Student Conference from 1936. Among the later materials is a 50th Anniversary directory for the class of 1936.
(2 small oversize archival boxes)
None.
Permission to publish materials from this collection must be obtained from the Head of Archives and Special Collections.
1 Linear Feet
This collection is largely made up of materials from Kytle's time at Georgia Tech, 1932 through 1936. Included are an address book, three issues of the T Book, three issues of the Technique, commencement and baccalaureate programs from June 1936, and a 1936 tuition receipt, as well as a program from the YMCA State Student Conference from 1936. A pair of tickets to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt speech documents President Roosevelt's November 1935 visit to campus. An usher's armband from the event has been transferred to Artifacts. Another small group of materials (a 50th anniversary directory, a list of Richmond Georgia Tech Club officers, and a clipping from Tech Topics) documents Kytle's activity as a Tech alumnus.
Rayford Perdue Kytle, Jr. (1915-2001), known as Ray, graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1936. For much of his working life, he worked as an engineer for Reynolds Metals Company, finishing his career in Richmond, Virginia as Vice President of the company.
Kytle, who was born on 10 May 1915 in Georgia, began his studies at Georgia Tech in 1932-1933 as a freshman. His father, Rayford Perdue Kytle, Sr. (1892-1974), grew up in Carrollton, Georgia, and may have been a student at Georgia Tech briefly in about 1914. During his years at Tech, the younger Kytle was very active: He participated in the Debating Society in all four years; he was in the Marionettes as a freshman and sophomore; he was active in the YMCA, serving as Vice President and Editor of the T Book in his junior year, and as President in his senior year; he became a Lieutenant in the ROTC; and he was a member of the Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity. He graduated in June 1936 with a degree in Chemical Engineering.
After graduation, Kytle worked briefly as an engineer in New Jersey, residing as a lodger in Englewood in 1940. By the early 1960s, he was back in Atlanta working for Reynolds Metals Company. Eventually, he moved to Richmond, Virginia, where he served as Vice President of Reynolds Metals until his retirement in about 1985. Throughout his career, Kytle remained active as a Tech alumnus, serving as President of the Richmond Alumni Club, the Louisville Alumni Club, and the Muscle Shoals Alumni. He also was a trustee of the National Alumni Association from 1967 to 1971. For his service to the alumni, Kytle was awarded the Distinguished Service Award from the Georgia Tech Alumni Association in 2003.
Kytle was married twice. He married his first wife on 25 May 1944 in Lauderdale, Alabama. She later died in an automobile accident. In 1974, he was married to Jean Harter Kytle (1925-2001). He had two children from his first marriage as well as a stepdaughter and stepson.
After his retirement, Kytle and his wife lived in Carrollton, Georgia for about 15 years, from 1985 to 1999. After that date, they returned to Richmond, where he died suddenly on January 5, 2001, at the age of 85.
Sources: Ancestry Library Edition, Blue Print 1936, Georgia Tech Alumni Directories.
A print copy of this finding aid is available in the Georgia Tech Archives reading room.
Donations, 2000 and 2001; accession numbers 2001.046 and 2000.052.
One usher's armband from Roosevelt's visit to campus has been removed to the Artifacts collection. Visual materials will be processed as VAM398.
(2 small oversize archival boxes)
Christine de Catanzaro processed these papers in September 2012.
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, Library, Georgia Institute of Technology Repository